Cute Kid

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

This is so well said and needs said more often;

“As soon as teenage girls start to profess love for something, everyone else becomes totally dismissive of it. Teenage girls are open season for the cruelest bullying that our society can dream up. Everyone’s vicious to them. They’re vicious to each other. Hell, they’re even vicious to themselves. It’s terrible.
“So if teenage girls have something that they love, isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t it better for them to find some words they believe in, words like the ‘fire-proof and fearless’ lyrics that Jacqui wrote? Isn’t it better for them to put those words on their arm in a tattoo than for them to cut gashes in that same skin? Shouldn’t we be grateful when teenage girls love our work? Shouldn’t that be a fucking honor?

“It’s used as the cheapest, easiest test of crap, isn’t it? If teenage girls love a movie, a book, a band, then it’s immediately classified as mediocre shit. Well, I’m not going to stand for that. Someone needs to treat them like they’re precious, and if nobody else is ready to step up, I guess it’s up to us to put them on the path to recognizing that about themselves.”

—
a character from The Devil’s Mixtape.

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Normally I agree with this quote from Gandhi, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” However a number of Christian groups in London have come together to prove that sometimes Christ’s teachings do prevail.

A statement by the groups said: “As Christians, we stand alongside people of all religions who are resisting economic injustice with active nonviolence. The global economic system perpetuates the wealth of the few at the expense of the many. It is based on idolatrous subservience to markets. We cannot worship both God and money.”

Perhaps change can yet come to pass..

Mark
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Reposting in the tradition of the people’s mic

h/t LeDaro

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Blackwater (Xe Services) is releasing a video game;

“The video game is a fictional action first-person shooter, without any political agenda, and is being published to let gamers experience the challenging missions Blackwater operatives have experienced.”

Of course it has no political agenda mercenaries don’t care who they fight for or who they kill. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and producer of the game, belied his tough guy reputation by hiding out with his cool 1 billion from George W. in the United Arab Emirates rather than face the music in the U.S. Not so brave when he can’t hide behind a gun.

A comment on the story sums up my feeling on the game;

Forget about the challenging missions. Do I get to play the missions where I shoot teenage kids off the back of a motorbike? What about the one where I get to machine gun women and kids crammed into the back of a little 2 door economy vehicle? Now that’s the Blackwater we’ve come to know and hate. What about the screams of anguish and horror? Can I hear them in stereo? Come on guys, get real! John Gill

Story source

Lest anyone think first person shooter games have created a role for this – here is a commentary on it by a gamer actually playing a first person shooter game at the same time.

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

The Star has picked up and ran with the ball of shit containing the lie that Jack Layton and Olivia Chow lived in subsidized housing

From time to time [Jack Layton] has been criticized for saying one thing and doing another, including being caught red-handed in 1985 living in subsidized housing in Toronto when his and Olivia Chow, then a Toronto trustee, were raking in a combined $120,000 year.

Anyone familiar with co-op housing is aware that all economic levels live there with those in the lower brackets sometimes being subsidized. There are a few townhouse complexes throughout Hamilton based on that very structure.

This is an old and tired lie and beneath contempt, certainly beneath the The Star. It is time for a retraction and an apology and for this lie to be given a proper burial.

Read more at Dr Dawg’s

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Ever wondered if the whole Father Knows Best sweater vest persona Harper puts on is just a show to appeal to his social conservative base? Well wonder no more! Ladies it turns out he really isn’t that into you.

The government of Prime Minister David Cameron believes the succession laws are antiquated and should be modernized, but they need the agreement of Commonwealth countries who maintain the Queen as the head of state, including Canada. New Zealand has agreed to the changes. But our prime minister, Stephen Harper, refuses. What twaddle.

Asked about all this on the campaign trail, Harper made it clear he wants to keep things as they are: leaving the monarchy to the eldest son, even if he has six older sisters. “The successor to the throne is a man,” he said. “The next successor to the throne is a man.” He says he has no intention of reopening debate on the monarchy, or any other part of our constitution.

One wonders if he simply tolerates the Queen, you know her missing that dangly bit and all.

h/t @anndouglas

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

As support for the NDP rises there rumblings from some quarters that the NDP is somehow betraying Canada by running a great campaign. Like Harper they have fallen victim to the idea of Canada as a two party system. The concept is that by not supporting the Liberals the NDP is complicit in allowing Harper to win. This presupposes that A) Harper will win and that B) the NDP has no responsibility to its members and contributors to run a proper campaign.

I want to vote for a party that has a commitment to health care and the bona fides to go with it.

I want to vote for a party with a commitment to labour, to protecting pensions and with a vision to bring dignity and hope to the lives of the poor including poor seniors.

I want to vote for a party with a commitment to human rights, women’s rights and respect for the environment.

In short I want to vote for a leftist party, which Ignatieff says the Liberals are not, “I don’t think of the Liberal Party of Canada as a party of the left. I never have,”

I have no problem with Layton and Ignatieff combining their efforts, coalition governments have been wonderful for Canada, however, we have had the Red Cats and the Blue Cats isn’t it time for “little fellow with an idea”?

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

This story is both a horrific example of the human trafficking going on in the world and a warning as to what could happen to women should the womb police get their way.

Anyone familiar with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale will recognize this type of scenario;

In its promotional material, the Asia-based operation makes pregnancy sound like an illness. Its symptoms include “loss of intimacy,” growing “out of shape” and, of course, “birth pangs.”

The solution? Fertilize a foreign stranger who will be fed nutritious meals, housed in a Bangkok suburb, monitored around the clock and kept to a precise sleep-wake schedule. “It is quite suitable,” says the agency’s broken-English pitch, “for the women who desire to have kids but no time for pregnancy.”

Sadly this lives not in the pages of a dystopian warning but is a profitable business in Asia. Recent developments of the GOP war on women in the States has many bloggers and tweeters asking if the GOP and their supporters see women as breeding stock, anti abortionists have even caused women to be investigated and arrested simply for thinking about abortion. Some lawmakers are considering investigating women for miscarriages. How long before laws are enforced that require pregnant or pre-pregnant women to adhere to specific types of behaviour very much like this;

This high degree of scrutiny is actually promoted by the company on the Chinese-language portion of its site. Surrogates are “accompanied by hand” while walking around the community, according to the site, which also promises they’ll be woken at 7 a.m., fed at specific times each day and put to bed at 10 p.m.

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

Some people of privilege believe that feminism has done it`s job, the battle is won, nothing to see here folks!

here is the reality by the numbers

Homicides

198 – the number of female victims of homicide in Canada in 2004. On average, 182 females were killed every year in Canada between 1994 and 2003.

62 – the number of female victims of spousal homicide in 2004. Of these, 27 women were killed by their legally married husband, 20 by a common-law partner and 15 by a separated or divorced husband. Among solved homicides involving victims aged 15 and older in 2004, one-half of all women were killed by someone with whom they had an intimate relationship at some point, either through marriage or dating. The comparative figure for men is 8%.

13 – the number of women killed by a current or former boyfriend in 2004.

Violence against women

7% – the estimated percentage of women in a current or previous spousal relationship who experienced spousal violence during the five years up to and including 2004. Rates of spousal abuse were highest among certain segments of the population: those aged 15 to 24; those in relationships of three years or less; those who had separated; and those in common-law unions.

23% – the percentage of female victims who reported that the most serious form of violence experienced was being beaten, choked, or threatened by having a gun or a knife used against them.

44% – the percentage of female victims of spousal abuse who indicated that they suffered injury because of violence, with 13% seeking medical attention.

38% – the percentage of women who reported the abuse to the police who sought a restraining order.

24% – the percentage of Aboriginal women who said they had suffered violence from a current or previous partner in the five-year period up to 2004. The overall rate of Aboriginal spousal violence (both men and women) was 21% during this period, compared with 6% for the non-Aboriginal population.

Stalking

11% – percentage of women aged 15 and older who stated that they were stalked in a way that caused them to fear for their safety or the safety of someone close to them. This was the equivalent of 1.4 million women. Among the victims of stalking, 9% of women reported that they had been stalked by either a current or previous spouse, or common-law partner.

Shelters for abused women

58,486 – the number of women who sought refuge in one of 473 shelters across Canada between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004. Overall, there were 543 known shelters in Canada providing residential services to abused women and their children. Of these, 473 participated in the Statistics Canada survey.

76% – the percentage of women who sought refuge in a shelter on April 14, 2004 who were escaping abuse. The vast majority of women staying in shelters to escape abuse were fleeing psychological or emotional abuse. Almost 7 out of 10 reported physical abuse, 50% threats, 46% financial abuse, 31% harassment and 27% sexual abuse. About one in three abused women in shelters on April 14, 2004 had reported their most recent abusive incident to police. Of the women who had stayed in shelters previously, 40% had been there once in the previous year, 38% had been there two to four times and about 1 in 10 had been to a facility five times or more during the previous year.

221 – the number of women, along with 112 children who could not, or would not be accommodated at one of 93 shelters on April 14, 2004. Of these 93 shelters, 62% reported the reason for referring them elsewhere was because the shelter was full, down from 75% in 2001/02. Other reasons for turning away clients relate to problems with alcohol and substance abuse as well as mental health issues.

3,519 – the number of women admitted to 31 on-reserve shelters between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004.

source stats can

[I refuse to link to Barbara - fucking - Kay, Wente is bad enough]

April Reign - In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.